More Computer Woes

[Springheel]

Anyone know what it means when your HD LED stays lit even though your computer is idling and shows 1% CPU usage?

 

I'm having a very strange problem where some programs crawl at unbelievably slow speeds...I'm talking five minutes to start up a game that normally takes five seconds. During this time the HD LED stays solidly lit, no flashing or anything. The moment the light goes out the program goes back to regular speeds. The CPU usage usually registers around 50% during the 'frozen' periods. Sometimes the application will show up as not-responding in Windows manager, but other times it says running. I've had this problem before. It seems to come and go randomly, and only seems to affect certain applications. I can't figure it out. I thought cleaning out my spyware last week had fixed it but apparently not. I don't know if it's related to my other problem or not.

 

Now I'm sitting here watching the light stay lit for a good five minutes now while the computer hovers around 1-3% CPU usage, running no other applications besides this one. What the heck could cause this? Could it be related to my IDE check timing out without detecting my HDs on a regular basis when I boot up now?

[New Horizon]

Does this also happen after a fresh install of the OS? Possible that the spyware could have left some unwanted junk behind to mess things up.

[god_is_my_goldfish]

also, does it do the same running in safe mode?

[Dram]

THIS problem... I had fixed it before with a re-install

[oDDity]

Jeez, you seem to have a new computer problem every week. I'd take it back to the store and get a new one, it's obviously faulty.

[Springheel]

Reinstalling everything is a last resort...I'm hoping it doesn't get that far.

 

I'm basically having two problems, but neither one is consistent. This recent 'stalling' problem happened a few months ago but then went away for a good two months. Now it's happening again, but not consistantly.

 

The other problem has been a more recent development. On boot-up, the IDE check frequently times out before detecting both HDs. Sometimes it detects neither one and gives me a 'no boot device detected' error. Sometimes it detects C:, but not D:. Other times it detects both of them, though this usually requires multiple tries and/or shutting the computer off at the back.

 

I don't know if they're related or not, although to my untrained eye it seems like both could revolve around difficulty 'connecting' to the HDs. I checked my jumpers and cables though, and they seem to be properly set to master/slave, so I'm not sure what's up.

 

I can't really take it back until I figure out which part is causing the problem, as different parts came from different stores.

[Demigod]

This may be a overheating/damaged south bridge chip

 

I get the north and south bridge mixed up but one of these contains the HD controler. If this is faulty you will get the stalls in windows as it drops the line as it were, and the startup problems. Then again as Dram pointed out the stalling could be a faulty driver install, fixable by a reinstall. Though that doesnt explain the hd not being detected.

 

the only other thing I can think of that would explain all this is a flaky bios. Flashing it may fix the problem or give you a dead mobo if the chip is faulty rather than just the firmware being flaky.

[SneaksieDave]

Whatever it is, if you have some kind of backup software like Ghost, I'd use it now. I had what was obviously the beginning of HD problems last year, and figured to myself "Ah shit. Well, I guess over the next couple of weeks, I'll have to start transferring stuff to the other PC." Wrong. It took all of 2 more bootups for the HD to go unusable. Cascade failure!

[Demigod]

Can you test your hd's in another comp?

[Springheel]

I've burned all my important data to disk, so no worries there.

 

This may be a overheating/damaged south bridge chip

 

Overheating is a possibility. I recently found out my case fan hasn't been working for a while. But I've had a new one for the past few weeks and the problems keep happening, so if it's related to heat, the damage has already been done.

 

the only other thing I can think of that would explain all this is a flaky bios. Flashing it may fix the problem or give you a dead mobo if the chip is faulty rather than just the firmware being flaky.

 

That's something I hadn't considered, thanks.

 

I'll run a few tests this week, swapping HDs with my comp downstairs. That should tell me whether they're the problem or not.

[New Horizon]

Okay, that is weird. I had similar problems about a year ago now that I think about it. For the life of me, I don't know what I really did to correct it. There were so many things. I know that I replaced my IDE cables and flashed the bios as well. Problem hasn't been around since. Could have been either but I had intended to put in the smaller wrapped cables anyway, so I didn't bother to test it before flashing. Silly of me.

[Demigod]

Its modding that does it. Honestly, when I was modding morrowind I went through two hardrives. Im getting a new mouse and keyboard in a few weeks as these are starting to fail. I hope the rest holds up!

[Springheel]

Well, an update:

 

I removed my second hard-drive. No change to the symptoms.

 

I flashed my bios. No change.

 

I replaced the IDE cable. No change.

 

I plugged the HD cable into the IDE slot used by the CD drives...no change.

 

I am running out of ideas. I'm going to try an external IDE controller next.

[Demigod]

You dont have a second mobo/computer? (im lucky a live in a house with 5 )

Edited April 24, 2005 by Demigod

[Springheel]

Yeah I do, but it's my back-up. Nowhere near as good.

[Demigod]

You could try the first(bootable) hardrive in that. winxp will freak though and this may mess your registry.

 

Can you make a backup of critacal suff, set your second hd as primary install windows, and see if that wiorks?

[Springheel]

Windows has already freaked because I took a couple things out of their slots. I'm going to try the IDE controller first. If that doesn't work I'll try swapping HDs and see what happens. What a way to spend a day.

[Springheel]

Well, I seem to be on to something. When I put my slave drive (80g) in as the only HD, bios detects it normally. When I add the older 40g as a slave, it detects them both normally.

 

But when my 40g was set to Master, bios had problems. Strange.

 

edit: Just for the hell of it, I tried putting everything back the way it was, and it works, for now. God I hate computers.

[Springheel]

And a week later, the problem is back. If I disappear for a while it's because I've thrown the goddamn thing out the window.

[Domarius]

your 40gig is on its way out I guess.

[Demigod]

Sounds like time to say goodby to it and hello to a 200gb hd.

 

I dont know ehere you are from so

US

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/ProductList...=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

 

UK

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/productlister.aspx?GroupID=195

http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/components...s.htm?catid=202

[Outlaw]

I'm not so sure this will help, but it might help you in the future. There's a program called CCleaner. Its a free program that can clear out all of your temp files, history files, and cookies all very quickly. I run it once a week and I've gotten it to clear out 280 something MBs of spyware and other crap that you get when using the internet.

 

It also comes with a registry cleaner which will tell you when there is something wrong with an entry in the registry and can actually fix the problems. For example it can tell you if there is an activeX problem in the registry or tell you if you had something left over from some program you uninstalled. Again its very quick and even allows you to make a backup of your registry.

 

Now how does this help you? Well if it is a spyware/malware problem than this will most likely clear up about 90% of your problems with spyware/malware. I've run this program on 6 different computers and I have not had one problem with clearing out the registry or other internet files. Hope this helps.

 

Jon

[Darkness_Falls]

Another option for if it's SpyWare-related is to install and run system scans with two free products: AdAware and SpyBot. I've heard SpyBot will find and remove things that AdAware won't, and AdAware will find and remove things SpyBot won't. So running one after the other should remove most of any spyware related things that may be on your computer.

 

To get AdAware, go here and click the Download Now link:

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910...page&tag=button

 

To get SpyBot, go here and click the Download Now link:

http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Dest...subj=dl&tag=but

 

EDIT: After installing, be sure to 'check for updates' before running. Also, in running these programs, be sure you quarantine/delete the right stuff. I remember I allowed one of the programs to quarantine a file that was actually needed for Windows Media Player to work. Oops! (They've maybe fixed that problem with updated files.) I just had to re-install the player, or use a System Restore to go to a previous checkpoint. Wasn't hard to revert/fix. These programs have saved a few of my friends' and family members' systems from certain SpyWare doom.

Edited May 1, 2005 by Darkness_Falls

[Demigod]

Ms's spyware programe gets rid of some as well but please note that many of its possitives can be false. Make a text file and name it the same as a known spyware file and it tells you it is spyware. in some cases the contents of a file can do this too.